Animals Can Be "Victims" but Are Not Persons

Some animal rights activists are engaging in pronounced wishful thinking thatan Oregon Supreme Court ruling that individualanimals can be"victims" under animal neglect statutes is somehow a "landmark" advancingthe animals-are-people-too cause.

Well, I have read the case. It's not true.

Context: The defendant was convicted of twenty counts of animal neglect. He tried to weasel out of the charge by claiming only humans as "persons" can be "victims." The Supreme Court disagreed. From Oregon v. Ni...